Damper-regulator



UNITED STATES ATENT OFFXOE.

JAMES HOW AND CHARLES W. COPELAND, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

DAMPER-REGULATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent No.

To all whom t may conce/rn.'

Be it known that we, JAMES How and CHARLES l/VILsoN COPELAND, ofBrooklyn, New York, have invented certain new and useful Apparatus forRegulating the Pos1- tion of Dampers of Chimneys Used in Connection withSteam-Generators, and that the following specification, taken inconnection with the drawings, is a full, clear, and exact descriptionthereof.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is an end view or elevation of the wholeapparatus from the side to which steam is admitted from the generator.Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same parts, and Fig. 3 is a crosssection through the flexible tube, compressor lever, etc.

Our invention relatesV to that class of apparatus by which the amount ofeffective aperture in a stack or chimney is governed by the motions of adamper whose position depends to a greater or less extent upon thepressure of steam existing in a generator which is heated by a furnacein connection with such a chimney. And the nature of our inventionconsists in the employment of a flexible or partially elastic andflexible tube closed at each end and used in combination wit-h a presserblock and a bed plate; the interior of the tube being in connection withthe steam generator and the presser plate being employed to actuate adamper or other apparatus for regulating the quantity of air passingthrough a furnace, or as an indicator of pressure, or both,substantially as hereinafter set forth. I order to carry our inventioninto eect a tube of flexible material which may be to a greater or lessextent elastic is procured and in the two open ends thereof are fittedtwo plugs of wood or metal, and the extremities of the tube thus closedup are clamped between clamps much like ordinary pillow blocks. A holeis pierced through one of these plugs and through it the 'interior ofthe tubular space is by means of Iproper pipes put in connection with asteam generator. Upon the tube thus clamped and closed at the ends apresser block is laid, and below the tube a proper bed plate is providedand this block is held down either by its own gravity or by weights orsprings acting through the intervention of levers or otherwise. The

presser may by means of proper rods and levers or their equivalent beattached to 19,249, dated February a, 185s.

a damper so that it may be moved by the presser whenever it rises ordescends the connection being such that an increase of steam -pressurewill shut the damper either wholly or partially; `or it may be connectedto other apparatus for regulating draft or to control the amount of airdelivered by a blower or it may be used as a pressure gage if fittedwith a suitable scale. If the tube have little or no elasticity its endsmust be closed by oval plugs, or those whose cross section is arentering curve, one of whose diameters is longer than the other, andthe presser should be applied to the tubes with its pressing face (takenas a whole) parallel or nearly so to the longer diameter of the plug.

In the drawings a proper bed plate is represented at a a to which areattached two clamp jaws b b', as also two standards 0 0 hooked at theirupper ends. The elastic tube is shown at t and in each end thereof areexhibited plugs p p whose exterior circumference is a little greaterthan that of the interior of the tube, these plugs are driven in tight.The tube thus closed is laid upon the bed plate a resting on it, whileits ends lie in jaws Z) b and two other jaws l d properly shaped arebrought down upon the tube compressing its ends against t-he plugs, andare held there by proper screws as at s s s a hole L is pierced throughone of the plugs and a pipe as at m connects the interior of the tubewith the generator. Upon the tube is placed a presser f held down by aweighted lever g whose fulcrum is at m. To the end of this lever otherlevers are to be attached connecting with a damper in the chimney of thefurnace which heats the generator, the attachment being such that thedamper shall close as the presser rises and vice Versa, or the presserblock may be attached to other apparatus for controlling the quantity ofair passing through a furnace. Now by looking at the cross section ofthe tube shown in the drawings it will be perceived, that when steam isintroduced it will have a tendency to change such section and approachit to the cylindrical, for when truly cylindrical its capacity would begreatest, and it will also be perceived that if the weight upon thepresser be constant this change will be gradual; the presser rising asthe steam pressure in the interior of the tube increases. If the tubewere merely flexible and not elastic it is clear that the shape of theend plugs would be material, that is that they should on no account havea circular section, but if the tube be made of highly elastic materialthen the lend plugs may be cylindrical as an increase of pressure couldthen swell or bulge out a tube already cylindrical into aA cylinder ofgreater diameter thereby lifting the presser. The tube is confinedbetween the bed plate and presser and the former is stationary, thewhole change of shape will therefore act upon the presser and cause itto rise or fall.

, Now our apparatus does not produce an effect different from otherknown contrivfances and its value lies in the simplicity of yitsconstruction, its cheapness and in the fact that its action upon adamper or other draft controller is gradual, opening and closing it bydegrees without sudden Achanges and this without the aid of anycontrivance for varying the weight on the presser as it rises ordescends. The presser plate may be connected to ash pit doors, to thethrottle valve of a blower engine or to any known contrivance forregulating the draft of furnaces or to a damper and we contemplate usingit for such purposes and also employing its vibrations to indicate thepressure of steam. A piece of ordinary india rubber hose answers everypurpose for the tube and an inspection of the drawings will show that nopeculiar nicety 0f workmanship is required for the production of auseful apparatus. Ve are aware also of the facts, that elasticdiaphragms properly connected have been used as damper regulators; thatan elastic metallic vessel 0f peculiar formation has been employed forthe same purpose, and also that a bent highly elastic metallic tube hasbeen and now is used as a steam gage, but in that instance the pressuredoes not alter the cross section of the tube but the degree of curvaturein the length of the tube. And we also know that it has been proposed toemploy a coil of tube as a gasket for a stuffing boX packing, such atube being distended by fluid pressure. WVe therefore lay no claim toany such contrivances but le do claim as of our own invention- Aflexible, or flexible and elastic, tube closed at both ends and 1nconnection with a steam generator, in combination with a presser blockand a bed plate, constructed as a whole substantially in the mannerspecified and applied to regulate the quantity of air delivered to afurnace or as a pressure indicator.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names on thissecond day of lVIay, A. D. 1857.

JAMES HOV. CHAS. W. COPELAND. In presence of- VILLIAM PORTER, WM. HENRYWALLACE.

